First day we rode our bikes and put them on the train to Tigre, suburb of BA. From there we took a 3 hour ferry to Carmelo, Uruguay. As it was getting dark soon, we took a quick tour of the city to see where we might camp for the night. About one block from the ferry and we were making our first friend, Poppy. Our new dog wouldn´t get his name until we woke up the next morning to find that he was still outside our tent, watching our bikes for us.
The night we arrived was the end of Carnival, so we went downtown to watch the parade of pretty ladies, boys in white masks dressed in drag, and Mozambique (sister city?) drummers, also in a bit of drag. Poppy was with us the whole time, barking whenever we started to get on the bikes. Anytime a car would pass us, he would bark at to make sure we were safe.
Poppy, tounge out.Day 2, February 17th, we left Carmelo going northwest towards Nueva Palmira. As we left the city, surely Poppy would leave us behind. No, Poppy wouldn´t leave us until we left route 21 to enter Nueva Palmira, about 18 KM away. That dog was hard to deter and harder to wear out. It was a shame we couldn´t keep him, but 50+ KM per day is a lot to ask of a dog.
Roberto and Chris on the Rio San Salvador
The Molina (mill) San SalvadorA cool shower was next, Roberto knew exactly what we needed. Over a nice lunch, our host told us about the Argentine picketers who have kept the international bridge from Fray Bentos to Argentina closed for years, in protest over a paper mill on the Uruguayan side. The battle seems lost as the paper mill has been running awhile now, and thanks to the protests and new technology is a relatively small issue as it pertains to contamination of the river. The soy crops, he says, are a huge polluter.
But now, on towards Mercedes.
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